BRAHAM    LINCOLN 


ROBERT  G.  INGERSOLL 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


This  authorized  special  edition  has  been 
published  with  the  permission  of  C.  P. 
FARRELL. 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


ABRAHAM 
LINCOLN 

By 

ROBERT  G.INGERSOLL 


Nothing  is  grander  than  to  break  chains 
from  the  bodies  of  men  —  nothing  nobler 
than  to  destroy  the  phantoms  of  the  soul 


JOHN    LANE    COMPANY 
NEW    YORK     •     MCMVII 


VI 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1894,  by 

ROBERT  G.   INGERSOLL 
in  the  Office  of.  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


THK  UNIVERSITY  PSESS,  CAMBRIDGK,  U.  S.  A. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

I 

IN  the  12th  of  Feb 
ruary,  1809,  two  babes 
were  born — one  in  the 
woods  of  Kentucky, 
amid  the  hardships  and  poverty  of 
pioneers;  one  in  England,  sur 
rounded  by  wealth  and  culture. 
One  was  educated  in  the  University 
of  Nature,  the  other  at  Cambridge. 
One  associated  his  name  with 
the  enfranchisement  of  labor,  with 
the  emancipation  of  millions, 
with  the  salvation  of  the  Republic. 
He  is  known  to  us  as  Abraham 
Lincoln. 

[5] 


ALHAHAM    LINCOLN 

The  other  broke  the  chains  of 
superstition  and  filled  the  world 
with  intellectual  light,  and  he  is 
known  as  Charles  Darwin. 

Nothing  is  grander  than  to  break 
chains  from  the  bodies  of  men  — 
nothing  nobler  than  to  destroy  the 
phantoms  of  the  soul. 

Because  of  these  two  men  the 
nineteenth  century  is  illustrious. 

A  few  men  and  women  make 
a  nation  glorious  —  Shakespeare 
made  England  immortal,  Voltaire 
civilized  and  humanized  France; 
Goethe,  Schiller,  and  Humboldt 
lifted  Germany  into  the  light. 
Angelo,  Raphael,  Galileo,  and 
Bruno  crowned  with  fadeless  laurel 
the  Italian  brow,  and  now  the  most 
precious  treasure  of  the  Great 
[6] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

Republic  is  the  memory  of  Abraham 
Lincoln. 

Every  generation  has  its  heroes, 
its  iconoclasts,  its  pioneers,-  its 
ideals.  The  people  always  have 
been  and  still  are  divided,  at  least 
into  classes  —  the  many,  who  with 
their  backs  to  the  sunrise  worship 
the  past,  and  the  few,  who  keep 
their  faces  toward  the  dawn — the 
many,  who  are  satisfied  with  the 
world  as  it  is ;  the  few,  who  labor 
and  suffer  for  the  future,  for  those 
to  be,  and  who  seek  to  rescue  the 
oppressed,  to  destroy  the  cruel  dis 
tinctions  of  caste,  and  to  civilize 
mankind. 

Yet  it  sometimes  happens  that 
the  liberator  of  one  age  becomes 
the  oppressor  of  the  next.  His 

m 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

reputation  becomes  so  great  —  he 
is  so  revered  and  worshiped  —  that 
his  followers,  in  his  name,  attack 
the  hero  who  endeavors  to  take 
another  step  in  advance. 

The  heroes  of  the  Revolution, 
forgetting  the  justice  for  which 
they  fought,  put  chains  upon  the 
limbs  of  others,  and  in  their  names 
the  lovers  of  liberty  were  denounced 
as  ingrates  and  traitors. 

During  the  Revolution  our  fathers 
to  justify  their  rebellion  dug  down 
to  the  bed-rock  of  human  rights 
and  planted  their  standard  there. 
They  declared  that  all  men  were 
entitled  to  liberty  and  that  govern 
ment  derived  its  power  from  the 
consent  of  the  governed.  But  when 
victory  came,  the  great  principles 
[8] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

were  forgotten  and  chains  were 
put  upon  the  limbs  of  men.  Both 
of  the  great  political  parties  were 
controlled  by  greed  and  selfishness. 
Both  were  the  defenders  and  pro 
tectors  of  slavery.  For  nearly  three- 
quarters  of  a  century  these  parties 
had  control  of  the  Republic.  The 
principal  object  of  both  parties  was 
the  protection  of  the  infamous  in 
stitution.  Both  were  eager  to  secure 
the  Southern  vote  and  both  sacri 
ficed  principle  and  honor  upon  the 
altar  of  success. 

At  last  the  Whig  party  died  and 
the  Republican  was  born.  This 
party  was  opposed  to  the  further 
extension  of  slavery.  The  Demo 
cratic  party  of  the  South  wished 
to  make  the  "divine  institution" 
[9] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

national  —  while  the  Democrats  of 
the  North  wanted  the  question  de 
cided  by  each  territory  for  itself. 

Each  of  these  parties  had  con 
servatives  and  extremists.  The 
extremists  of  the  Democratic  party 
were  in  the  rear  and  wished  to  go 
back;  the  extremists  of  the  Re 
publican  party  were  in  the  front 
and  wished  to  go  forward.  The 
extreme  Democrat  was  willing  to 
destroy  the  Union  for  the  sake  of 
slavery,  and  the  extreme  Repub 
lican  was  willing  to  destroy  the 
Union  for  the  sake  of  liberty. 

Neither  party  could  succeed 
without  the  votes  of  its  extremists. 

Thiswas  thecondition  in  1858-60. 

When  Lincoln  was  a  child  his 

parents  removed  from  Kentucky  to 
[10] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

Indiana.  A  few  trees  were  felled 
—  a  log  hut  open  to  the  south,  no 
floor,  no  window,  was  built  —  a 
little  land  plowed  and  here  the 
Lincolns  lived.  Here  the  patient, 
thoughtful,  silent,  loving  mother 
died  —  died  in  the  wide  forest  as  a 
leaf  dies,  leaving  nothing  to  her  son 
but  the  memory  of  her  love. 

In  a  few  years  the  family  moved 
to  Illinois.  Lincoln  then  almost 
grown,  clad  in  skins,  with  no  woven 
stitch  upon  his  body — walking  and 
driving  the  cattle.  Another  farm 
was  opened  —  a  few  acres  subdued 
and  enough  raised  to  keep  the  wolf 
from  the  door.  Lincoln  quit  the 
farm  —  went  down  the  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  as  a  hand  on  a  flat-boat 
—  afterward  clerked  in  a  country 
[11] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

store  —  then  in  partnership  with 
another  bought  the  store  —  failed. 
Nothing  left  but  a  few  debts  — 
learned  the  art  of  surveying— made 
about  half  a  living  and  paid  some 
thing  on  the  debts  —  read  law 

admitted  to  the  bar  —  tried  a  few 
small  cases  —  nominated  for  the 
Legislature  and  made  a  speech. 

This  speech  was  in  favor  of  a 
tariff,  not  only  for  revenue,  but  to 
encourage  American  manufacturers 
and  to  protect  American  working- 
men.  Lincoln  knew  then  as  well 
as  we  do  now,  that  everything,  to 
the  limits  of  the  possible,  that 
Americans  use  should  be  produced 
by  the  energy,  skill,  and  ingenuity 
of  Americans.  He  knew  that  the 
more  industries  we  had,  the  greater 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

variety  of  things  we  made,  the 
greater  would  be  the  development 
of  the  American  brain.  And  he 
knew  that  great  men  and  great 
women  are  the  best  things  that  a 
nation  can  produce,  —  the  finest 
crop  a  country  can  possibly  raise. 

He  knew  that  a  nation  that  sells 
raw  material  will  grow  ignorant 
and  poor,  while  the  people  who 
manufacture  will  grow  intelligent 
and  rich.  To  dig,  to  chop,  to  plow, 
requires  more  muscle  than  mind, 
more  strength  than  thought. 

To  invent,  to  manufacture,  to 
take  advantage  of  the  forces  of 
nature  —  this  requires  thought, 
talent,  genius.  This  develops  the 
brain  and  gives  wings  to  the 
imagination. 

[13] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

It  is  better  for  Americans  to 
purchase  from  Americans,  even  if 
the  things  purchased  cost  more. 

If  we  purchase  a  ton  of  steel  rails 
from  England  for  twenty  dollars, 
then  we  have  the  rails  and  England 
the  money.  But  if  we  buy  a  ton  of 
steel  rails  from  an  American  for 
twenty-five  dollars,  then  America 
has  both  the  rails  and  the  money. 

Judging  from  the  present  uni 
versal  depression  and  the  recent 
elections,  Lincoln,  in  his  first 
speech,  stood  on  solid  rock  and  was 
absolutely  right.  Lincoln  was  edu 
cated  in  the  University  of  Nature 

—  educated  by  cloud  and  star  — 
by  field  and  winding  stream  —  by 
billowed  plains  and  solemn  forests 

—  by  morning's  birth  and  death  of 

[14] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

day  —  by  storm  and  night — by  the 
ever  eager  Spring — by  Summer's 
wealth  of  leaf  and  vine  and  flower 
—  the  sad  and  transient  glories  of 
the  Autumn  woods  —  and  Winter, 
builder  of  home  and  fireside,  and 
whose  storms  without  create  the 
social  warmth  within. 

He  was  perfectly  acquainted  with 
the  political  questions  of  the  day 
— heard  them  discussed  at  taverns 
and  country  stores,  at  voting  places 
and  courts  and  on  the  stump.  He 
knew  all  the  arguments  for  and 
against,  and  no  man  of  his  time 
was  better  equipped  for  intellectual 
conflict.  He  knew  the  average 
mind — the  thoughts  of  the  people, 
the  hopes  and  prejudices  of  his 
fellow-men.  He  had  the  power 
[15] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

of  accurate  statement.  He  was 
logical,  candid,  and  sincere.  In 
addition,  he  had  the  "touch  of 
nature  that  makes  the  whole  world 
kin." 

In  1858  he  was  a  candidate  for 
the  Senate  against  Stephen  A. 
Douglas. 

The  extreme  Democrats  would 
not  vote  for  Douglas,  but  the 
extreme  Republicans  did  vote 
for  Lincoln.  Lincoln  occupied  the 
middle  ground,  and  was  the  com 
promise  candidate  of  his  own  party. 
He  had  lived  for  many  years  in  the 
intellectual  territory  of  compromise 

—  in  a  part  of  our  country  settled 
by   Northern    and   Southern   men 

—  where   Northern  and    Southern 
ideas   met,  and   the   ideas   of  the 

[16] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

two  sections  were  brought  together 
and  compared. 

The  sympathies  of  Lincoln,  his 
ties  of  kindred,  were  with  the 
South.  His  convictions,  his  sense 
of  justice,  and  his  ideals  were  with 
the  North.  He  knew  the  horrors 
of  slavery,  and  he  felt  the  un 
speakable  ecstasies  and  glories  of 
freedom.  He  had  the  kindness, 
the  gentleness,  of  true  greatness, 
and  he  could  not  have  been  a 
master;  he  had  the  manhood  and 
independence  of  true  greatness, 
and  he  could  not  have  been  a  slave. 
He  was  just,  and  was  incapable  of 
putting  a  burden  upon  others  that 
he  himself  would  not  willingly  bear. 

He  was  merciful  and  profound, 
and  it  was  not  necessary  for  him 
[17] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

to  read  the  history  of  the  world  to 
know  that  liberty  and  slavery  could 
not  live  in  the  same  nation,  or  in 
the  same  brain.  Lincoln  was  a 
statesman.  And  there  is  this  differ 
ence  between  a  politician  and  a  states 
man.  A  politician  schemes  and  works 
in  every  way  to  make  the  people  do 
something  for  him.  A  statesman 
wishes  to  do  something  for  the 
people.  With  him  place  and  power 
are  means  to  an  end,  and  the  end  is 
the  good  of  his  country. 

In  this  campaign  Lincoln  demon 
strated  three  things — first,  that  he 
was  the  intellectual  superior  of  his 
opponent ;  second,  that  he  was  right ; 
and  third,  that  a  majority  of  the 
voters  of  Illinois  were  on  his  side. 

[18] 


II 

;N  I860  the  Republic 
reached  a  crisis.  The 
conflict  between  lib 
erty  and  slavery  could 
no  longer  be  delayed.  For  three- 
quarters  of  a  century  the  forces 
had  been  gathering  for  the  battle. 

After  the  Revolution,  principle 
was  sacrificed  for  the  sake  of  gain. 
The  Constitution  contradicted  the 
Declaration.  Liberty  as  a  principle 
was  held  in  contempt.  Slavery 
took  possession  of  the  Government. 
Slavery  made  the  laws,  corrupted 
courts,  dominated  Presidents,  and 
demoralized  the  people. 

I  do  not  hold  the  South  respon- 
[19] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

sible  for  slavery  any  more  than  I 
do  the  North.  The  fact  is,  that 
individuals  and  nations  act  as  they 
must.  There  is  no  chance.  Back 
of  every  event  —  of  every  hope, 
prejudice,  fancy,  and  dream  —  of 
every  opinion  and  belief —  of  every 
vice  and  virtue  —  of  every  smile 
and  curse,  is  the  efficient  cause. 
The  present  moment  is  the  child, 
and  the  necessary  child,  of  all  the 
past. 

Northern  politicians  wanted 
office,  and  so  they  defended  slavery; 
Northern  merchants  wanted  to  sell 
their  goods  to  the  South,  and  so 
they  were  the  enemies  of  freedom. 
The  preacher  wished  to  please  the 
people  who  paid  his  salary,  and 
so  he  denounced  the  slave  for 
[20] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

not  being  satisfied  with  the  posi 
tion  in  which  the  good  God  had 
placed  him. 

The  respectable,  the  rich,  the 
prosperous,  the  holders  of  and  the 
seekers  for  office,  held  liberty  in 
contempt.  They  regarded  the 
Constitution  as  far  more  sacred 
than  the  rights  of  men.  Candidates 
for  the  presidency  were  applauded 
because  they  had  tried  to  make 
slave  States  of  free  territory,  and 
the  highest  court  solemnly  and 
ignorantly  decided  that  colored 
men  and  women  had  no  rights. 
Men  who  insisted  that  freedom 
was  better  than  slavery,  and  that 
mothers  should  not  be  robbed  of 
their  babes,  were  hated,  despised, 
and  mobbed.  Mr.  Douglas  voiced 
[21] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

the  feelings  of  millions  when  he  de 
clared  that  he  did  not  care  whether 
slavery  was  voted  up  or  down. 
Upon  this  question  the  people,  a 
majority  of  them,  were  almost 
savages.  Honor,  manhood,  con 
science,  principle — all  sacrificed 
for  the  sake  of  gain  or  office. 

From  the  heights  of  philosophy 
—  standing  above  the  contending 
hosts,  above  the  prejudices,  the  sen 
timentalities  of  the  day  —  Lincoln 
was  great  enough  and  brave  enough 
and  wise  enough  to  utter  these 
prophetic  words: 

"A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot 
stand.  I  believe  this  Government  cannot 
permanently  endure  half  slave  and  half  free. 
I  do  not  expect  the  Union  to  be  dissolved  ; 
I  do  not  expect  the  house  to  fall ;  but  I  do 
expect  it  will  cease  to  be  divided.  It  will 

[22] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

become  all  the  one  thing  or  the  other. 
Either  the  opponents  of  slavery  will  arrest 
the  further  spread  of  it,  and  place  it  where 
the  public  mind  shall  rest  in  the  belief  that 
it  is  in  the  course  of  ultimate  extinction,  or 
its  advocates  will  push  it  further  until  it 
becomes  alike  lawful  in  all  the  States,  old 
as  well  as  new,  North  as  well  as  South." 

This  declaration  was  the  standard 
around  which  gathered  the  grandest 
political  party  the  world  has  ever 
seen,  and  this  declaration  made 
Lincoln  the  leader  of  that  vast 
host. 

In  this,  the  first  great  crisis, 
Lincoln  uttered  the  victorious 
truth  that  made  him  the  foremost 
man  in  the  Republic. 

The  Republican  party  nominated 

him   for    the    presidency   and   the 

people  decided  at  the  polls  that  a 

house  divided  against  itself  could 

[23] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

not  stand,  and  that  slavery  had 
cursed  soul  and  soil  enough. 

It  is  not  a  common  thing  to  elect 
a  really  great  man  to  fill  the  highest 
official  position.  I  do  not  say  that 
the  great  Presidents  have  been 
chosen  by  accident.  Probably  it 
would  be  better  to  say  that  they 
were  the  favorites  of  a  happy 
chance. 

The  average  man  is  afraid  of 
genius.  He  feels  as  an  awkward 
man  feels  in  the  presence  of  a 
sleight-of-hand  performer.  He 
admires  and  suspects.  Genius 
appears  to  carry  too  much  sail  — 
to  lack  prudence,  has  too  much 
courage.  The  ballast  of  dullness 
inspires  confidence. 

By  a  happy  chance  Lincoln  was 
[24] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

nominated  and  elected  in  spite  of 
his  fitness — and  the  patient,  gentle, 
just,  and  loving  man  was  called 
upon  to  bear  as  great  a  burden  as 
man  has  ever  borne. 


[25] 


Ill 

HEN  came  another 
crisis  —  the  crisis  of 
Secession  and  Civil 
war. 

Again  Lincoln  spoke  the  deepest 
feeling  and  the  highest  thought  of 
the  Nation.  In  his  first  message 
he  said: 

"The   central   idea   of   secession   is   the 
essence  of  anarchy." 

He  also  showed  conclusively  that 
the  North  and  South,  in  spite  of 
secession,  must  remain  face  to  face 
—  that  physically  they  could  not 
separate  —  that  they  must  have 
more  or  less  commerce,  and  that 
this  commerce  must  be  carried  on 
[26] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

either  between   the   two   sections 
as  friends,  or  as  aliens. 

This  situation  and  its  conse 
quences  he  pointed  out  to  absolute 
perfection  in  these  words  : 

"Can  aliens  make  treaties  easier  than 
friends  can  make  laws?  Can  treaties  be 
more  faithfully  enforced  between  aliens  than 
laws  among  friends?" 

After  having  stated  fully  and 
fairly  the  philosophy  of  the  conflict, 
after  having  said  enough  to  satisfy 
any  calm  and  thoughtful  mind,  he 
addressed  himself  to  the  hearts  of 
America.  Probably  there  are  few 
finer  passages  in  literature  than  the 
close  of  Lincoln's  inaugural  address : 

"  I  am  loth  to  close.  We  are  not  enemies, 
but  friends.  We  must  not  be  enemies. 
Though  passion  may  have  strained,  it  must 
not  break,  our  bonds  of  affection.  The 
mystic  chords  of  memory  stretching  from 
[27] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

every  battlefield  and  patriotic  grave  to  every 
loving  heart  and  hearthstone  all  over  this 
broad  land,  will  swell  the  chorus  of  the  Union 
when  again  touched,  as  surely  they  will  be, 
by  the  better  angels  of  our  nature." 

These  noble,  these  touching, 
these  pathetic  words,  were  deliv 
ered  in  the  presence  of  rebellion, 
in  the  midst  of  spies  and  conspir 
ators —  surrounded  by  but  few 
friends,  most  of  whom  were  un 
known,  and  some  of  whom  were 
wavering  in  their  fidelity  —  at  a 
time  when  secession  was  arrogant 
and  organized,  when  patriotism  was 
silent,  and  when,  to  quote  the 
expressive  words  of  Lincoln  him 
self,  "  Sinners  were  calling  the 
righteous  to  repentance." 

When  Lincoln  became  President, 
he  was  held  in  contempt  by  the 
[28] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

South  —  underrated  by  the  North 
and  East  —  not  appreciated  even 
by  his  cabinet  —  and  yet  he  was 
not  only  one  of  the  wisest,  but  one 
of  the  shrewdest  of  mankind. 
Knowing  that  he  had  the  right  to 
enforce  the  laws  of  the  Union  in 
all  parts  of  the  United  States  and 
Territories  —  knowing,  as  he  did, 
that  the  secessionists  were  in  the 
wrong,  he  also  knew  that  they  had 
sympathizers  not  only  in  the  North, 
but  in  other  lands. 

Consequently,  he  felt  that  it  was 
of  the  utmost  importance  that  the 
South  should  fire  the  first  shot, 
should  do  some  act  that  would 
solidify  the  North,  and  gain  for  us 
the  justification  of  the  civilized 

world. 

[29] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

He  proposed  to  give  food  to  the 
soldiers  at  Sumter.  He  asked  the 
advice  of  all  his  cabinet  on  this 
question,  and  all,  with  the  exception 
of  Montgomery  Blair,  answered  in 
the  negative,  giving  their  reasons  in 
writing.  In  spite  of  this,  Lincoln 
took  his  own  course  —  endeavored 
to  send  the  supplies,  and  while 
thus  engaged,  doing  his  simple 
duty,  the  South  commenced  actual 
hostilities  and  fired  on  the  fort. 
The  course  pursued  by  Lincoln 
was  absolutely  right,  and  the  act 
of  the  South  to  a  great  extent 
solidified  the  North,  and  gained 
for  the  Republic  the  justification 
of  a  great  number  of  people  in 
other  lands. 

At  that  time  Lincoln  appreciated 
[30] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

the  scope  and  consequences  of  the 
impending  conflict.  Above  all  other 
thoughts  in  his  mind  was  this : 

"This  conflict  will  settle  the 
question,  at  least  for  centuries 
to  come,  whether  man  is  capable 
of  governing  himself,  and  conse 
quently  is  of  greater  importance  to 
the  free  than  to  the  enslaved." 

He  knew  what  depended  on  the 
issue  and  he  said  : 

"  We  shall  nobly  save,  or  meanly 
lose,  the  last,  best  hope  of  earth." 


[31] 


IV 

HEN  came  a  crisis  in 
the  North.  It  became 
clearer  and  clearer  to 
Lincoln's  mind,  day 
by  day,  that  the  Rebellion  was 
slavery,  and  that  it  was  necessary 
to  keep  the  border  States  on  the 
side  of  the  Union.  For  this  pur 
pose  he  proposed  a  scheme  of 
emancipation  and  colonization  —  a 
scheme  by  which  the  owners  of 
slaves  should  be  paid  the  full  value 
of  what  they  called  their  "property." 
He  knew  that  if  the  border  States 
agreed  to  gradual  emancipation, 
and  received  compensation  for  their 

slaves,  they  would  be  forever  lost 

[32] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

to  the  Confederacy,  whether  seces 
sion  succeeded  or  not.  It  was 
objected  at  the  time,  by  some,  that 
the  scheme  was  far  too  expensive ; 
but  Lincoln,  wiser  than  his  advisers 
— far  wiser  than  his  enemies  — 
demonstrated  that  from  an  eco 
nomical  point  of  view,  his  course 
was  best. 

He  proposed  that  $400  be  paid 
for  slaves,  including  men,  women, 
and  children.  This  was  a  large 
price,  and  yet  he  showed  how 
much  cheaper  it  was  to  purchase 
than  to  carry  on  the  war. 

At  that  time,  at  the  price  men 
tioned,  there  were  about  $750,000 
worth  of  slaves  in  Delaware.  The 
cost  of  carrying  on  the  war  was  at 

least  two  millions  of  dollars  a  day, 
[33] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

and  for  one-third  of  one  day's  ex 
penses,  all  the  slaves  in  Delaware 
could  be  purchased.  He  also  showed 
that  all  the  slaves  in  Delaware, 
Maryland,  Kentucky,  and  Missouri 
could  be  bought,  at  the  same  price, 
for  less  than  the  expense  of  carrying 
on  the  war  for  eighty-seven  days. 

This  was  the  wisest  thing  that 
could  have  been  proposed,  and 
yet  such  was  the  madness  of  the 
South,  such  the  indignation  of  the 
North,  that  the  advice  was  un 
heeded. 

Again,  in  July,  1862,  he  urged 
on  the  Representatives  of  the 
border  States  a  scheme  of  gradual 
compensated  emancipation ;  but  the 
Representatives  were  too  deaf  to 
hear,  too  blind  to  see. 
[34] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

Lincoln  always  hated  slavery, 
and  yet  he  felt  the  obligations  and 
duties  of  his  position.  In  his  first 
message  he  assured  the  South  that 
the  laws,  including  the  most  odious 
of  all  —  the  law  for  the  return  of 
fugitive  slaves — would  be  enforced. 
The  South  would  not  hear.  After 
ward  he  proposed  to  purchase  the 
slaves  of  the  border  States,  but  the 
proposition  was  hardly  discussed  — 
hardly  heard.  Events  came  thick 
and  fast ;  theories  gave  way  to  facts, 
and  everything  was  left  to  force. 

The  extreme  Democrat  of  the 
North  was  fearful  that  slavery 
might  be  destroyed,  that  the 
Constitution  might  be  broken,  and 
that  Lincoln,  after  all,  could  not 
be  trusted ;  and  at  the  same  time 
[35] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

the  radical  Republican  feared  that 
Lincoln  loved  the  Union  more  than 
he  did  liberty. 

The  fact  is,  that  he  tried  to  dis 
charge  the  obligations  of  his  great 
office,  knowing  from  the  first  that 
slavery  must  perish.  The  course 
pursued  by  Lincoln  was  so  gentle, 
so  kind  and  persistent,  so  wise  and 
logical,  that  millions  of  Northern 
Democrats  sprang  to  the  defence, 
not  only  of  the  Union,  but  of  his 
administration.  Lincoln  refused  to 
be  led  or  hurried  by  Fremont  or 
Hunter,  by  Greeley  or  Sunnier. 
From  first  to  last  he  was  the 
real  leader,  and  he  kept  step  with 
events. 


[36] 


V 

N  the  22d  of  July, 
1862,  Lincoln  sent 
word  to  the  members 
of  his  cabinet  that  he 
wished  to  see  them.  It  so  happened 
that  Secretary  Chase  was  the  first 
to  arrive.  He  found  Lincoln  read 
ing  a  book.  Looking  up  from  the 
page,  the  President  said  :  "  Chase, 
did  you  ever  read  this  book  ? " 
"  What  book  is  it  ? "  asked  Chase. 
"  Artemus  Ward,"  replied  Lincoln. 
"Let  me  read  you  this  chapter, 
entitled  Wax  Wurx  in  Albany.  " 
And  so  he  began  reading  while  the 
other  members  of  the  cabinet  one 
by  one  came  in.  At  last  Stanton 
[37] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

told  Mr.  Lincoln  that  he  was  in 
a  great  hurry,  and  if  any  business 
was  to  be  done  he  would  like  to 
do  it  at  once.  Whereupon  Mr. 
Lincoln  laid  down  the  open  book, 
opened  a  drawer,  took  out  a  paper, 
and  said :  "  Gentlemen,  I  have 
called  you  together  to  notify  you 
what  I  have  determined  to  do.  I 
want  no  advice.  Nothing  can 
change  my  mind." 

He  then  read  the  Proclamation 
of  Emancipation.  Chase  thought 
there  ought  to  be  something  about 
God  at  the  close,  to  which  Lincoln 
replied :  "  Put  it  in,  it  won't  hurt 
it."  It  was  also  agreed  that  the 
President  would  wait  for  a  victory 
in  the  field  before  giving  the 

Proclamation  to  the  world. 

[38] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

The  meeting  was  over,  the 
members  went  their  way.  Mr. 
Chase  was  the  last  to  go,  and  as 
he  went  through  the  door  looked 
back  and  saw  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
had  taken  up  the  book  and  was 
again  engrossed  in  the  Wax  Wurx 
at  Albany. 

This  was  on  the  22d  of  July, 
1862.  On  the  22d  of  August 
of  the  same  year  Lincoln 
wrote  his  celebrated  letter  to 
Horace  Greeley,  in  which  he  stated 
that  his  object  was  to  save  the 
Union ;  that  he  would  save  it  with 
slavery  if  he  could ;  that  if  it  was 
necessary  to  destroy  slavery  in 
order  to  save  the  Union,  he  would  ; 
in  other  words,  he  would  do  what 
was  necessary  to  save  the  Union. 
[39] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

This  letter  disheartened,  to  a  great 
degree,  thousands  and  millions  of 
the  friends  of  freedom.  They  felt 
that  Mr.  Lincoln  had  not  attained 
the  moral  height  upon  which  they 
supposed  he  stood.  And  yet, 
when  this  letter  was  written,  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation  was  in 
his  hands,  and  had  been  for  thirty 
days,  waiting  only  an  opportunity 
to  give  it  to  the  world. 

Some  two  weeks  after  the  letter 
to  Greeley,  Lincoln  was  waited  on 
by  a  committee  of  clergymen,  and 
was  by  them  informed  that  it  was 
God's  will  that  he  should  issue  a 
Proclamation  of  Emancipation. 
He  replied  to  them,  in  substance, 
that  the  day  of  miracles  had  passed. 
He  also  mildly  and  kindly  suggested 
[40] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

that  if  it  were  God's  will  this  Procla 
mation  should  be  issued,  certainly 
God  would  have  made  known  that 
will  to  him  —  to  the  person  whose 
duty  it  was  to  issue  it. 

On  the  22d  day  of  September, 
1862,  the  most  glorious  date  in 
the  history  of  the  Republic,  the 
Proclamation  of  Emancipation  was 
issued. 

Lincoln  had  reached  the  general 
ization  of  all  argument  upon  the 
question  of  slavery  and  freedom  — 
a  generalization  that  never  has 
been,  and  probably  never  will  be, 
excelled : 

"  In  giving  freedom  to  the  slave,  we  assure 
freedom  to  the  free." 

This  is  absolutely  true.     Liberty 
can   be  retained,  can  be  enjoyed, 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

only  by  giving  it  to  others.  The 
spendthrift  saves,  the  miser  is 
prodigal.  In  the  realm  of  Free 
dom,  waste  is  husbandry.  He 
who  puts  chains  upon  the  body 
of  another  shackles  his  own  soul. 
The  moment  the  Proclamation 
was  issued  the  cause  of  the  Re 
public  became  sacred.  From  that 
moment  the  North  fought  for  the 
human  race.  From  that  moment 
the  North  stood  under  the  blue 
and  stars,  the  flag  of  Nature, 
sublime  and  free. 

In  1831  Lincoln  went  down  the 
Mississippi  on  a  flat-boat.  He  re 
ceived  the  extravagant  salary  of  ten 
dollars  a  month.  When  he  reached 
New  Orleans,  he  and  some  of  his 
companions  went  about  the  city. 
[42] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

Among  other  places,  they  visited 
a  slave  market,  where  men  and 
women  were  being  sold  at  auction. 
A  young  colored  girl  was  on  the 
block.  Lincoln  heard  the  brutal 
words  of  the  auctioneer  —  the 
savage  remarks  of  bidders.  The 
scene  filled  his  soul  with  indignation 
and  horror. 

Turning  to  his  companions,  he 
said,  "  Boys,  if  I  ever  get  a  chance 
to  hit  slavery,  by  God  I'll  hit  it 
hard ! " 

The  helpless  girl,  unconsciously, 
had  planted  in  a  great  heart  the 
seeds  of  the  Proclamation. 

Thirty-one  years   afterward  the 

chance  came,  the  oath  was  kept, 

and  to  four  millions  of  slaves,  of 

men,    women,  and    children,    was 

[43] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

restored  liberty,  the  jewel  of  the 
soul. 

In  the  history,  in  the  fiction  of 
the  world,  there  is  nothing  more 
intensely  dramatic  than  this. 

Lincoln  held  within  his  brain 
the  grandest  truths,  and  he  held 
them  as  unconsciously,  as  easily, 
as  naturally,  as  a  waveless  pool 
holds  within  its  stainless  breast  a 
thousand  stars. 

In  these  two  years  we  had 
traveled  from  the  Ordinance  of 
Secession  to  the  Proclamation  of 
Emancipation. 


[44] 


VI 

JE  were  surrounded  by 
enemies.  Many  of 
the  so-called  great  in 
Europe  and  England 
were  against  us.  They  hated  the 
Republic,  despised  our  institutions, 
and  sought  in  many  ways  to  aid 
the  South. 

Mr.  Gladstone  announced  that 
Jefferson  Davis  had  made  a  nation, 
and  that  he  did  not  believe  the 
restoration  of  the  American  Union 
by  force  attainable. 

From  the  Vatican  came  words 
of  encouragement  for  the  South. 

It  was  declared  that  the  North 
was   fighting   for   empire  and  the 
South  for  independence. 
[45] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

The  Marquis  of  Salisbury  said : 
"  The  people  of  the  South  are  the 
natural  allies  of  England.  The 
North  keeps  an  opposition  shop 
in  the  same  department  of  trade 
as  ourselves." 

Not  a  very  elevated  sentiment  — 
but  English. 

Some  of  their  statesmer  declared 
that  the  subjugation  of  the  South 
by  the  North  would  be  a  calamity 
to  the  world. 

Louis  Napoleon  was  another 
enemy,  and  he  endeavored  to  es 
tablish  a  monarchy  in  Mexico,  to 
the  end  that  the  great  North  might 
be  destroyed.  But  the  patience, 
the  uncommon  common  sense,  the 
statesmanship  of  Lincoln — in  spite 
of  foreign  hate  and  Northern  divi- 
[46] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

sion  —  triumphed  over  all.  And 
now  we  forgive  all  foes.  Victory 
makes  forgiveness  easy. 

Lincoln  was  by  nature  a  diplo 
mat.  He  knew  the  art  of  sailing 
against  the  wind.  He  had  as 
much  shrewdness  as  is  consistent 
with  honesty.  He  understood,  not 
only  the  rights  of  individuals,  but 
of  nations.  In  all  his  correspond 
ence  with  other  governments  he 
neither  wrote  nor  sanctioned  a  line 
which  afterward  was  used  to  tie 
his  hands.  In  the  use  of  perfect 
English  he  easily  rose  above  all  his 
advisers  and  all  his  fellows. 

No  one  claims  that  Lincoln  did 

all.     He  could  have  done  nothing 

without  the  generals  in  the  field, 

and  the  generals  could  have  done 

[47] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

nothing  without  their  armies.  The 
praise  is  due  to  all  —  to  the  private 
as  much  as  to  the  officer ;  to  the 
lowest  who  did  his  duty,  as  much 
as  to  the  highest. 

My  heart  goes  out  to  the  brave 
private  as  much  as  to  the  leader 
of  the  host. 

But  Lincoln  stood  at  the  center 
and  with  infinite  patience,  with 
consummate  skill,  with  the  genius 
of  goodness,  directed,  cheered, 
consoled,  and  conquered. 


[48] 


VII 

X.AVERY  was  the 
cause  of  the  war, 
and  slavery  was  the 
perpetual  stumbling- 
block.  As  the  war  went  on,  ques 
tion  after  question  arose — questions 
that  could  not  be  answered  by 
theories.  Should  we  hand  back 
the  slave  to  his  master,  when  the 
master  was  using  his  slave  to 
destroy  the  Union  ?  If  the  South 
was  right,  slaves  were  property, 
and  by  the  laws  of  war  anything 
that  might  be  used  to  the  advan 
tage  of  the  enemy  might  be  confis 
cated  by  us.  Events  did  not  wait 
for  discussion.  General  Butler 
[49] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

denominated  the  negro  as  "  a  con 
traband."  Congress  provided  that 
the  property  of  the  rebels  might 
be  confiscated. 

The  extreme  Democrats  of  the 
North  regarded  the  slave  as  more 
sacred  than  life.  It  was  no  harm 
to  kill  the  master  —  to  burn  his 
house,  to  ravage  his  fields  —  but 
you  must  not  free  his  slave. 

If  in  war  a  nation  has  the  right 
to  take  the  property  of  its  citizens 
—  of  its  friends  —  certainly  it  has 
the  right  to  take  the  property  of 
those  it  has  the  right  to  kill. 

Lincoln  was  wise  enough  to  know 
that  war  is  governed  by  the  laws 
of  war,  and  that  during  the  con 
flict  constitutions  are  silent.  All 
that  he  could  do  he  did  in  the 
[50] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

interests  of  peace.  He  offered  to 
execute  every  law  —  including  the 
most  infamous  of  all  —  to  buy  the 
slaves  in  the  border  States  —  to 
establish  gradual,  compensated 
emancipation;  but  the  South  would 
not  hear.  Then  he  confiscated  the 
property  of  rebels  —  treated  the 
slaves  as  contraband  of  war,  used 
them  to  put  down  the  Rebellion, 
armed  them  and  clothed  them  in 
the  uniform  of  the  Republic  — 
was  in  favor  of  making  them  citi 
zens  and  allowing  them  to  stand  on 
an  equality  with  their  white  brethren 
under  the  flag  of  the  Nation. 
During  these  years  Lincoln  moved 
with  events,  and  every  step  he  took 
has  been  justified  by  the  considerate 
judgment  of  mankind. 
[51] 


VIII 

JINCOLN  not  only 
watched  the  war,  but 
kept  his  hand  on  the 
political  pulse.  In 
1863  a  tide  set  in  against  the 
administration.  A  Republican 
meeting  was  to  be  held  in  Spring 
field,  Illinois,  and  Lincoln  wrote  a 
letter  to  be  read  at  this  convention. 
It  was  in  his  happiest  vein.  It  was 
a  perfect  defence  of  his  administra 
tion,  including  the  Proclamation 
of  Emancipation.  Among  other 
things  he  said : 

"But  the  proclamation,  as  law,  either  is 
valid  or  it  is  not  valid.  If  it  is  not  valid 
it  needs  no  retraction,  but  if  it  is  valid  it 
cannot  be  retracted,  any  more  than  the  dead 
can  be  brought  to  life." 
[52] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

To  the  Northern  Democrats 
who  said  they  would  not  fight  for 
negroes,  Lincoln  replied : 

"  Some  of  them  seem  willing  to  fight  for 
you  —  but  no  matter." 

Of  negro  soldiers : 

"  But  negroes,  like  other  people,  act  upon 
motives.  Why  should  they  do  anything  for 
us  if  we  will  do  nothing  for  them  ?  If  they 
stake  their  lives  for  us  they  must  be  prompted 
by  the  strongest  motive  —  even  the  promise 
of  freedom.  And  the  promise,  being  made, 
must  be  kept." 

There  is  one  line  in  this  letter 
that  will  give  it  immortality : 

"The  Father  of  waters  again  goes  unvexed 
to  the  sea." 

This  line  is  worthy  of  Shakespeare. 
Another : 

"  Among  free  men  there  can  be  no  success 
ful  appeal  from  the  ballot  to  the  bullet." 

He  draws  a  comparison  between 

[53] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

the  white  men  against  us  and  the 
black  men  for  us : 

"  And  then  there  will  be  some  black  men 
who  can  remember  that  with  silent  tongue 
and  clenched  teeth  and  steady  eye  and  well- 
poised  bayonet  they  have  helped  mankind 
on  to  this  great  consummation ;  while  I  fear 
there  will  be  some  white  ones  unable  to  for 
get  that  with  malignant  heart  and  deceitful 
speech  they  strove  to  hinder  it." 

Under  the  influence  of  this  letter, 
the  love  of  country,  of  the  Union, 
and  above  all,  the  love  of  liberty, 
took  possession  of  the  heroic  North. 

There  was  the  greatest  moral 
exaltation  ever  known. 

The  spirit  of  liberty  took  pos 
session  of  the  people.  The  masses 
became  sublime. 

To  fight  for  yourself  is  natural 
—  to  fight  for  others  is  grand ;  to 
fight  for  your  country  is  noble  — 
[54] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

to  fight  for  the  human  race  —  for 
the  liberty  of  hand  and  brain  — 
is  nobler  still. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  defenders 
of  slavery  had  sown  the  seeds  of 
their  own  defeat.  They  dug  the 
pit  in  which  they  fell.  Clay  and 
Webster  and  thousands  of  others 
had  by  their  eloquence  made  the 
Union  almost  sacred.  The  Union 
was  the  very  tree  of  life,  the  source 
and  stream  and  sea  of  liberty  and 
law. 

For  the  sake  of  slavery  millions 
stood  by  the  Union,  for  the  sake 
of  liberty  millions  knelt  at  the  altar 
of  the  Union  ;  and  this  love  of  the 
Union  is  what,  at  last,  overwhelmed 
the  Confederate  hosts. 

It  does  not  seem  possible  that 
[55] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

only  a  few  years  ago  our  Consti 
tution,  our  laws,  our  Courts,  the 
Pulpit,  and  the  Press,  defended  and 
upheld  the  institution  of  slavery  — 
that  it  was  a  crime  to  feed  the 
hungry  —  to  give  water  to  the  lips 
of  thirst  —  shelter  to  a  woman 
flying  from  the  whip  and  chain ! 

The  old  flag  still  flies  — the  stars 
are  there  —  the  stains  have  gone. 


[56] 


IX 

INCOLN  always  saw 
the  end.  He  was  un 
moved  by  the  storms 
and  currents  of  the 
times.  He  advanced  too  rapidly 
for  the  conservative  politicians,  too 
slowly  for  the  radical  enthusiasts. 
He  occupied  the  line  of  safety,  and 
held  by  his  personality  —  by  the 
force  of  his  great  character,  by  his 
charming  candor  —  the  masses  on 
his  side. 

The  soldiers  thought  of  him  as 
a  father. 

All  who  had  lost  their  sons  in 
battle  felt  that  they  had  his  sym 
pathy —  felt  that  his  face  was  as 
[57] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

sad  as  theirs.  They  knew  that 
Lincoln  was  actuated  by  one  mo 
tive,  and  that  his  energies  were 
bent  to  the  attainment  of  one  end 

—  the  salvation  of  the  Republic. 
They   knew  that   he  was  kind, 

sincere,  and  merciful.  They  knew 
that  in  his  veins  there  was  no  drop 
of  tyrants'  blood.  They  knew  that 
he  used  his  power  to  protect  the 
innocent,  to  save  reputation  and  life 

—  that  he  had  the  brain  of  a  phi 
losopher  —  the  heart  of  a  mother. 

During  all  the  years  of  war, 
Lincoln  stood  the  embodiment  of 
mercy,  between  discipline  and 
death.  He  pitied  the  imprisoned 
and  condemned.  He  took  the 
unfortunate  in  his  arms,  and  was 

the   friend    even    of  the   convict 

[58] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

He  knew  temptation's  strength  — 
the  weakness  of  the  will  —  and 
how  in  fury's  sudden  flame  the 
judgment  drops  the  scales,  and 
passion  —  blind  and  deaf — usurps 
the  throne. 

One  day  a  woman,  accompanied 
by  a  Senator,  called  on  the  Presi 
dent.  The  woman  was  the  wrife 
of  one  of  Mosby's  men.  Her  hus 
band  had  been  captured,  tried,  and 
condemned  to  be  shot.  She  came 
to  ask  for  the  pardon  of  her  hus 
band.  The  President  heard  her 
story  and  then  asked  what  kind  of 
man  her  husband  was.  "Is  he 
intemperate,  does  he  abuse  the 
children  and  beat  you?"  "No, 
no,"  said  the  wife,  "  he  is  a  good 
man,  a  good  husband,  he  loves  me 
[59] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

and  he  loves  the  children,  and  we 
cannot  live  without  him.  The 
only  trouble  is  that  he  is  a  fool 
about  politics  —  I  live  in  the 
North,  born  there,  and  if  I  get  him 
home,  he  will  do  no  more  fighting 
for  the  South."  "  Well,"  said  Mr. 
Lincoln,  after  examining  the  pa 
pers,  "  I  will  pardon  your  husband 
and  turn  him  over  to  you  for  safe 
keeping."  The  poor  woman,  over 
come  with  joy,  sobbed  as  though 
her  heart  would  break. 

"  My  dear  woman,"  said  Lincoln, 
"  if  I  had  known  how  badly  it  was 
going  to  make  you  feel,  I  never 
would  have  pardoned  him."  "  You 
do  not  understand  me,"  she  cried 
between  her  sobs.  "  You  do  not 

understand    me."      "  Yes,    yes,   I 
[60] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

do,"  answered  the  President,  "  and 
if  you  do  not  go  away  at  once  I 
shall  be  crying  with  you." 

On  another  occasion,  a  member 
of  Congress,  on  his  way  to  see 
Lincoln,  found  in  one  of  the  ante 
rooms  of  the  White  House  an  old 
white-haired  man,  sobbing  —  his 
wrinkled  face  wet  with  tears.  The 
old  man  told  him  that  for  several 
days  he  had  tried  to  see  the  Presi 
dent —  that  he  wanted  a  pardon 
for  his  son.  The  Congressman 
told  the  old  man  to  come  with  him 
and  he  would  introduce  him  to  Mr. 
Lincoln.  On  being  introduced, 
the  old  man  said:  "Mr.  Lincoln, 
my  wife  sent  me  to  you.  We  had 
three  boys.  They  all  joined  your 
army.  One  of  'em  has  been  killed, 
[61] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

one's  a-fighting  now,  and  one  of 
'em,  the  youngest,  has  been  tried 
for  deserting,  and  he 's  going  to  be 
shot  day  after  to-morrow.  He 
never  deserted.  He 's  wild,  and 
he  may  have  drunk  too  much  and 
wandered  off,  but  he  never  deserted. 
T ain't  in  the  blood.  He's  his 
mother's  favorite,  and  if  he 's  shot, 
I  know  she'll  die."  The  Presi 
dent,  turning  to  his  secretary,  said  : 
"  Telegraph  General  Butler  to 
suspend  the  execution  in  the  case 

of [giving  the  name]   until 

further  orders  from  me,  and   ask 

him  to  answer ." 

The  Congressman  congratulated 

the  old  man  on  his  success  —  but 

the  old  man  did  not  respond.     He 

was  not  satisfied.    "  Mr.  President," 

[62] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

he  began,  "  I  can't  take  that  news 
home.  It  won't  satisfy  his  mother. 
How  do  I  know  but  what  you  '11 
give  further  orders  to-morrow?" 
"  My  good  man,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln, 
"I  have  to  do  the  best  I  can. 
The  generals  are  complaining  be 
cause  I  pardon  so  many.  They  say 
that  my  mercy  destroys  discipline. 
Now,  when  you  get  home  you  tell 
his  mother  what  you  said  to  me 
about  my  giving  further  orders, 
and  then  you  tell  her  that  I  said 
this :  '  If  your  son  lives  until  they 
get  further  orders  from  me,  that 
when  he  does  die  people  will  say 
that  old  Methusaleh  was  a  baby 
compared  to  him.' ' 

The  pardoning  power  is  the  only 
remnant    of    absolute   sovereignty 
[63] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

that  a  President  has.  Through  all 
the  years,  Lincoln  will  be  known 
as  Lincoln  the  loving,  Lincoln  the 
merciful. 


[64] 


X 

INCOLN    had   the 

keenest  sense  of  hu 
mor,  and  always  saw 
the  laughable  side 
even  of  disaster.  In  his  humor 
there  was  logic  and  the  best  of 
sense.  No  matter  how  compli 
cated  the  question,  or  how  embar 
rassing  the  situation,  his  humor 
furnished  an  answer  and  a  door  of 
escape. 

Vallandigham  was  a  friend  of  the 
South,  and  did  what  he  could  to 
sow  the  seeds  of  failure.  In  his 
opinion  everything,  except  rebel 
lion,  was  unconstitutional. 

He  was  arrested,  convicted  by  a 
[65] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

court  martial,  and  sentenced  to 
imprisonment. 

There  was  doubt  about  the 
legality  of  the  trial,  and  thousands 
in  the  North  denounced  the  whole 
proceeding  as  tyrannical  and  infa 
mous.  At  the  same  time  millions 
demanded  that  Vallandigham 
should  be  punished. 

Lincoln's  humor  came  to  the 
rescue.  He  disapproved  of  the 
findings  of  the  court,  changed  the 
punishment,  and  ordered  that  Mr. 
Vallandigham  should  be  sent  to  his 
friends  in  the  South. 

Those  who  regarded  the  act  as 
unconstitutional  almost  forgave  it 
for  the  sake  of  its  humor. 

Horace  Greeley  always  had  the 
idea  that  he  was  greatly  superior 
[66] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

to  Lincoln,  because  he  lived  in  a 
larger  town,  and  for  a  long  time 
insisted  that  the  people  of  the 
North  and  the  people  of  the  South 
desired  peace.  He  took  it  upon 
himself  to  lecture  Lincoln.  Lin 
coln,  with  that  wonderful  sense  of 
humor,  united  with  shrewdness  and 
profound  wisdom,  told  Greeley 
that,  if  the  South  really  wanted 
peace,  he  (Lincoln)  desired  the 
same  thing,  and  was  doing  all  he 
could  to  bring  it  about.  Greeley 
insisted  that  a  commissioner  should 
be  appointed,  with  authority  to 
negotiate  with  the  representatives 
of  the  Confederacy.  This  was 
Lincoln's  opportunity.  He  au 
thorized  Greeley  to  act  as  such 
commissioner.  The  great  editor 
[67] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

felt  that  he  was  caught.  For  a 
time  he  hesitated,  but  finally  went, 
and  found  that  the  Southern  com 
missioners  were  willing  to  take 
into  consideration  any  offers  of 
peace  that  Lincoln  might  make, 
consistent  with  the  independence 
of  the  Confederacy. 

The  failure  of  Greeley  was  hu 
miliating,  and  the  position  in  which 
he  was  left,  absurd. 

Again  the  humor  of  Lincoln 
had  triumphed. 

Lincoln,  to  satisfy^  a  few  fault 
finders  in  the  North,  went  to 
Grant's  headquarters  and  met  some 
Confederate  commissioners.  He 
urged  that  it  was  hardly  proper  for 
him  to  negotiate  with  the  repre 
sentatives  of  rebels  in  arms  —  that 
[68] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

if  the  South  wanted  peace,  all  they 
had  to  do  was  to  stop  fighting. 
One  of  the  commissioners  cited  as 
a  precedent  the  fact  that  Charles 
the  First  negotiated  with  rebels  in 
arms.  To  which  Lincoln  replied 
that  Charles  the  First  lost  his 
head. 

The  conference  came  to  nothing, 
as  Mr.  Lincoln  expected. 

The  commissioners,  one  of  them 
being  Alexander  H.  Stephens, 
who,  when  in  good  health,  weighed 
about  ninety  pounds,  dined  with 
the  President  and  General  Grant. 
After  dinner,  as  they  were  leaving, 
Stephens  put  on  an  English  ulster, 
the  tails  of  which  reached  the 
ground,  while  the  collar  was  some 
what  above  the  wearer's  head. 
[69] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

As  Stephens  went  out,  Lincoln 
touched  Grant  and  said :  "  Grant, 
look  at  Stephens.  Did  you  ever 
see  as  little  a  nubbin  with  as  much 
shuck  ? " 

Lincoln  always  tried  to  do  things 
in  the  easiest  way.  He  did  not 
waste  his  strength.  He  was  not 
particular  about  moving  along 
straight  lines.  He  did  not  tunnel 
the  mountains.  He  was  willing 
to  go  around,  and  reach  the  end 
desired  as  a  river  reaches  the  sea. 


[70] 


XI 

!NE  of  the  most  won 
derful  things  ever 
done  by  Lincoln  was 
the  promotion  of 
General  Hooker.  After  the  battle 
of  Fredericksburg,  General  Burn- 
side  found  great  fault  with  Hooker, 
and  wished  to  have  him  removed 
from  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 
Lincoln  disapproved  of  Burnside's 
order,  and  gave  Hooker  the  com 
mand.  He  then  wrote  Hooker 
this  memorable  letter : 

"  I  have  placed  you  at  the  head  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac.  Of  course  I  have 
done  this  upon  what  appears  to  me  to  be 
sufficient  reasons,  and  yet  I  think  it  best  for 
you  to  know  that  there  are  some  things  in 
regard  to  which  I  am  not  quite  satisfied  with 
[71] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

you.  I  believe  you  to  be  a  brave  and  skill 
ful  soldier  —  which,  of  course,  I  like.  I 
also  believe  you  do  not  mix  politics  with 
your  profession  —  in  which  you  are  right. 
You  have  confidence  —  which  is  a  valuable, 
if  not  an  indispensable,  quality.  You  are 
ambitious,  which,  within  reasonable  bounds, 
does  good  rather  than  harm;  but  I  think 
that  during  General  Burnside's  command  of 
the  army  you  have  taken  counsel  of  your 
ambition  to  thwart  him  as  much  as  you 
could  —  in  which  you  did  a  great  wrong  to 
the  country  and  to  a  most  meritorious  and 
honorable  brother  officer.  I  have  heard,  in 
such  a  way  as  to  believe  it,  of  your  recently 
saying  that  both  the  army  and  the  Govern 
ment  needed  a  dictator.  Of  course  it  was 
not  for  this,  but  in  spite  of  it,  that  I  have 
given  you  command.  Only  those  generals 
who  gain  successes  can  set  up  dictators. 
What  I  now  ask  of  you  is  military  successes, 
and  I  will  risk  the  dictatorship.  The  Gov 
ernment  will  support  you  to  the  utmost  of 
its  ability,  which  is  neither  more  nor  less  than 
it  has  done  and  will  do  for  all  commanders. 
I  much  fear  that  the  spirit  which  you  have 
aided  to  infuse  into  the  army,  of  criticising 
their  commander  arid  withholding  confidence 
[72] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

in  him,  will  now  turn  upon  you.  I  shall 
assist  you,  so  far  as  I  can,  to  put  it  down. 
Neither  you,  nor  Napoleon,  if  he  were  alive, 
can  get  any  good  out  of  an  army  while  such 
a  spirit  prevails  in  it.  And  now  beware  of 
rashness.  Beware  of  rashness,  but  with 
energy  and  sleepless  vigilance  go  forward 
and  give  us  victories." 

This  letter  has,  in  my  judg 
ment,  no  parallel.  The  mistaken 
magnanimity  is  almost  equal  to 
the  prophecy : 

"  I  much  fear  that  the  spirit  which  you 
have  aided  to  infuse  into  the  army,  of  criti 
cising  their  commander  and  withholding 
confidence  in  him,  will  now  turn  upon  you. 

Chancellorsville  was  the  fulfill 
ment. 


[73] 


XII 

R  LINCOLN  was  a 

statesman.  The  great 
stumbling-block  — 
the  great  obstruction 
—  in  Lincoln's  way,  and  in  the 
way  of  thousands,  was  the  old 
doctrine  of  States  Rights. 

This  doctrine  was  first  estab 
lished  to  protect  slavery.  It  was 
clung  to  to  protect  the  inter- State 
slave  trade.  It  became  sacred  in 
connection  with  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law,  and  it  was  finally  used  as  the 
corner-stone  of  Secession. 

This  doctrine  was  never  appealed 
to  in  defence  of  the  right  —  always 
in  support  of  the  wrong.  For 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

many  years  politicians  upon  both 
sides  of  this  question  endeavored 
to  express  the  exact  relations  exist 
ing  between  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  and  the  States,  and  I  know 
of  no  one  who  succeeded,  except 
Lincoln.  In  his  message  of  1861, 
delivered  on  July  the  4th,  the 
definition  is  given,  and  it  is  perfect : 

"  Whatever  concerns  the  whole  should  be 
confided  to  the  whole  —  to  the  General 
Government.  Whatever  concerns  only  the 
State  should  be  left  exclusively  to  the 
State." 

When  that  definition  is  realized 
in  practice,  this  country  becomes 
a  Nation.  Then  we  shall  know 
that  the  first  allegiance  of  the  citi 
zen  is  not  to  his  State,  but  to  the 
Republic,  and  that  the  first  duty 
of  the  Republic  is  to  protect  the 
[75] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

citizen,  not  only  when  in  other 
lands,  but  at  home,  and  that  this 
duty  cannot  be  discharged  by 
delegating  it  to  the  States. 

Lincoln  believed  in  the  sover 
eignty  of  the  people  —  in  the 
supremacy  of  the  Nation  —  in  the 
territorial  integrity  of  the  Republic. 


[76] 


XIII 

GREAT  actor  can 
be  known  only  when 
he  has  assumed  the 
principal  character  in 
a  great  drama.  Possibly  the  great 
est  actors  have  never  appeared, 
and  it  may  be  that  the  greatest 
soldiers  have  lived  the  lives  of 
perfect  peace.  Lincoln  assumed 
the  leading  part  in  the  greatest 
drama  ever  enacted  upon  the  stage 
of  this  continent. 

His  criticisms  of  military  move 
ments,  his  correspondence  with  his 
generals  and  others  on  the  conduct 
of  the  war,  show  that  he  was  at  all 
times  master  of  the  situation  — 
[77] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

that  he  was  a  natural  strategist, 
that  he  appreciated  the  difficulties 
and  advantages  of  every  kind,  and 
that  in  "  the  still  and  mental " 
field  of  war  he  stood  the  peer  of 
any  man  beneath  the  flag. 

Had  McClellan  followed  his  ad 
vice,  he  would  have  taken  Rich 
mond. 

Had  Hooker  acted  in  accordance 
with  his  suggestions,  Chancellors- 
ville  would  have  been  a  victory  for 
the  Nation. 

Lincoln's  political  prophecies 
were  all  fulfilled. 

We  know  now  that  he  not  only 
stood  at  the  top,  but  that  he 
occupied  the  center,  from  first  to 
last,  and  that  he  did  this  by  reason 
of  his  intelligence,  his  humor,  his 
[78] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

philosophy,  his  courage,  and  his 
patriotism. 

In  passion's  storm  he  stood, 
unmoved,  patient,  just,  and  candid. 
In  his  brain  there  was  no  cloud, 
and  in  his  heart  no  hate.  He 
longed  to  save  the  South  as  well 
as  North,  to  see  the  Nation  one 
and  free. 

He  lived  until  the  end  was 
known. 

He  lived  until  the  Confederacy 
was  dead  —  until  Lee  surrendered, 
until  Davis  fled,  until  the  doors  of 
Libby  Prison  were  opened,  until 
the  Republic  was  supreme. 

He  lived  until  Lincoln  and 
Liberty  were  united  forever. 

He  lived  to  cross  the  desert  — 
to  reach  the  palms  of  victory  —  to 
[79] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

hear  the  murmured  music  of  the 
welcome  waves. 

He  lived  until  all  loyal  hearts 
were  his  —  until  the  history  of  his 
deeds  made  music  in  the  souls  of 
men — until  he  knew  that  on 
Columbia's  Calendar  of  wrorth  and 
fame  his  name  stood  first. 

He  lived  until  there  remained 
nothing  for  him  to  do  as  great  as 
he  had  done. 

What  he  did  was  worth  living 
for,  worth  dying  for. 

He  lived  until  he  stood  in  the 
midst  of  universal  Joy,  beneath 
the  outstretched  wings  of  Peace  — 
the  foremost  man  in  all  the  world. 

And  then  the  horror  came. 
Night  fell  on  noon.  The  Savior 

of  the   Republic,  the  breaker  of 

[80] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

chains,  the  liberator  of  millions,  he 
who  had  "  assured  freedom  to  the 
free,"  was  dead. 

Upon  his  brow  Fame  placed  the 
immortal  wreath,  and  for  the  first 
time  in  the  history  of  the  world  a 
Nation  bowed  and  wept. 

The  memory  of  Lincoln  is  the 
strongest,  tenderest  tie  that  binds 
all  hearts  together  now,  and  holds 
all  States  beneath  a  Nation's  flag. 


[81] 


XIV 

BRAHAM  LIN 
COLN  —  strange 
mingling  of  mirth  and 
tears,  of  the  tragic 
and  grotesque,  of  cap  and  crown, 
of  Socrates  and  Democritus,  of 
^Esop  and  Marcus  Aurelius,  of  all 
that  is  gentle  and  just,  humorous 
and  honest,  merciful,  wise,  laugh 
able,  lovable,  and  divine,  and  all  con 
secrated  to  the  use  of  man ;  while 
through  all,  and  over  all,  were  an 
overwhelming  sense  of  obligation,  of 
chivalric  loyalty  to  truth,  and  upon 
all,  the  shadow  of  the  tragic  end. 
Nearly  all  the  great  historic 

characters  are  impossible  monsters, 

[82] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

disproportioned  by  flattery,  or  by 
calumny  deformed.  We  know 
nothing  of  their  peculiarities,  or 
nothing  but  their  peculiarities. 
About  these  oaks  there  clings  none 
of  the  earth  of  humanity. 

Washington  is  now  only  a  steel 
engraving.  About  the  real  man 
who  lived  and  loved  and  hated  and 
schemed,  we  know  but  little.  The 
glass  through  which  we  look  at 
him  is  of  such  high  magnifying 
power  that  the  features  are  exceed 
ingly  indistinct. 

Hundreds  of  people  are  now 
engaged  in  smoothing  out  the  lines 
of  Lincoln's  face  —  forcing  all  fea 
tures  to  the  common  mold  —  so 
that  he  may  be  known,  not  as  he 
really  was,  but,  according  to  their 
[83] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

poor  standard,  as  he  should  have 
been. 

Lincoln  was  not  a  type.  He 
stands  alone  —  no  ancestors,  no 
fellows,  and  no  successors. 

He  had  the  advantage  of  living 
in  a  new  country,  of  social  equal 
ity,  of  personal  freedom,  of  seeing 
in  the  horizon  of  his  future  the 
perpetual  star  of  hope.  He  pre 
served  his  individuality  and  his 
self-respect.  He  knew  and  min 
gled  with  men  of  every  kind ;  and, 
after  all,  men  are  the  best  books. 
He  became  acquainted  with  the 
ambitions  and  hopes  of  the  heart, 
the  means  used  to  accomplish  ends, 
the  springs  of  action  and  the  seeds 
of  thought.  He  was  familiar  with 
nature,  with  actual  things,  with 
[84] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

common  facts.  He  loved  and 
appreciated  the  poem  of  the  year, 
the  drama  of  the  seasons. 

In  a  new  country  a  man  must 
possess  at  least  three  virtues  — 
honesty,  courage,  and  generosity. 
In  cultivated  society,  cultivation  is 
often  more  important  than  soil. 
A  well-executed  counterfeit  passes 
more  readily  than  a  blurred  genu 
ine.  It  is  necessary  only  to  ob 
serve  the  unwritten  laws  of  society 
—  to  be  honest  enough  to  keep 
out  of  prison,  and  generous  enough 
to  subscribe  in  public  —  where  the 
subscription  can  be  defended  as  an 
investment. 

In  a  new  country,  character  is 
essential ;  in  the  old,  reputation  is 
sufficient.  In  the  new,  they  find 
[85] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

what  a  man  really  is ;  in  the  old, 
he  generally  passes  for  what  he 
resembles.  People  separated  only 
by  distance  are  much  nearer 
together,  than  those  divided  by  the 
walls  of  caste. 

It  is  no  advantage  to  live  in  a 
great  city,  where  poverty  degrades 
and  failure  brings  despair.  The 
fields  are  lovelier  than  paved 
streets,  and  the  great  forests  than 
walls  of  brick.  Oaks  and  elms  are 
more  poetic  than  steeples  and 
chimneys. 

In  the  country  is  the  idea  of 
home.  There  you  see  the  rising 
and  setting  sun ;  you  become  ac 
quainted  with  the  stars  and  clouds. 
The  constellations  are  your  friends. 
You  hear  the  rain  on  the  roof  and 
[86] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

listen  to  the  rhythmic  sighing  of 
the  winds.  You  are  thrilled  by 
the  resurrection  called  Spring, 
touched  and  saddened  by  Autumn 

—  the  grace  and  poetry  of  death. 
Every  field   is  a  picture,  a  land 
scape  ;   every   landscape   a  poem ; 
every  flower  a  tender  thought,  and 
every  forest   a  fairyland.     In   the 
country  you  preserve  your  identity 

—  your    personality.      There   you 
are  an  aggregation  of  atoms,  but 
in  the  city  you  are  only  an  atom 
of  an  aggregation. 

In  the  country  you  keep  your 
cheek  close  to  the  breast  of  Na 
ture.  You  are  calmed  and  enno 
bled  by  the  space,  the  amplitude 
and  scope  of  earth  and  sky  —  by 
the  constancy  of  the  stars. 
[87] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

Lincoln  never  finished  his  educa 
tion.  To  the  night  of  his  death 
he  was  a  pupil,  a  learner,  an  in 
quirer,  a  seeker  after  knowledge. 
You  have  no  idea  how  many  men 
are  spoiled  by  what  is  called  edu 
cation.  For  the  most  part,  col 
leges  are  places  where  pebbles  are 
polished  and  diamonds  are  dimmed. 
If  Shakespeare  had  graduated  at 
Oxford,  he  might  have  been  a 
quibbling  attorney,  or  a  hypo 
critical  parson. 

Lincoln  was  a  great  lawyer. 
There  is  nothing  shrewder  in  this 
world  than  intelligent  honesty. 
Perfect  candor  is  sword  and  shield. 

He    understood  the  nature   of 
man.     As  a  lawyer  he  endeavored 
to  get  at  the  truth,  at  the  very 
[88] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

heart  of  a  case.  He  was  not  will 
ing  even  to  deceive  himself.  No 
matter  what  his  interest  said,  what 
his  passion  demanded,  he  was  great 
enough  to  find  the  truth  and  strong 
enough  to  pronounce  judgment 
against  his  own  desires. 

Lincoln  was  a  many-sided  man, 
acquainted  with  smiles  and  tears, 
complex  in  brain,  single  in  heart, 
direct  as  light ;  and  his  words, 
candid  as  mirrors,  gave  the  perfect 
image  of  his  thought.  He  was 
never  afraid  to  ask  —  never  too  dig 
nified  to  admit  that  he  did  not 
know.  No  man  had  keener  wit, 
or  kinder  humor. 

It  may  be  that  humor  is  the 
pilot  of  reason.  People  without 
humor  drift  unconsciously  into 
[89] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

absurdity.  Humor  sees  the  other 
side  —  stands  in  the  mind  like  a 
spectator,  a  good-natured  critic, 
and  gives  its  opinion  before  judg 
ment  is  reached.  Humor  goes 
with  good  nature,  and  good  nature 
is  the  climate  of  reason.  In  anger, 
reason  abdicates  and  malice  extin 
guishes  the  torch.  Such  was  the 
humor  of  Lincoln  that  he  could 
tell  even  unpleasant  truths  as 
charmingly  as  most  men  can  tell 
the  things  we  wish  to  hear. 

He  was  not  solemn.  Solemnity 
is  a  mask  worn  by  ignorance  and 
hypocrisy  —  it  is  the  preface,  pro 
logue,  and  index  to  the  cunning  or 
the  stupid. 

He  was  natural  in  his  life  and 
thought  —  master  of  the  story- 
[90] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

teller's  art,  in  illustration  apt,  in  ap 
plication  perfect,  liberal  in  speech, 
shocking  Pharisees  and  prudes, 
using  any  word  that  wit  could 
disinfect. 

He  was  a  logician.  His  logic 
shed  light.  In  its  presence  the 
obscure  became  luminous,  and  the 
most  complex  and  intricate  politi 
cal  and  metaphysical  knots  seemed 
to  untie  themselves.  Logic  is  the 
necessary  product  of  intelligence 
and  sincerity.  It  cannot  be 
learned.  It  is  the  child  of  a  clear 
head  and  a  good  heart. 

Lincoln  was  candid,  and  with 
candor  often  deceived  the  deceit 
ful.  He  had  intellect  without 
arrogance,  genius  without  pride, 
and  religion  without  cant  —  that  is 
[91] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

to  say,  without  bigotry  and  without 
deceit. 

He  was  an  orator — clear,  sincere, 
natural.  He  did  not  pretend.  He 
did  not  say  what  he  thought  others 
thought,  but  what  he  thought. 

If  you  wish  to  be  sublime  you 
must  be  natural  —  you  must  keep 
close  to  the  grass.  You  must  sit 
by  the  fireside  of  the  heart ;  above 
the  clouds  it  is  too  cold.  You  must 
be  simple  in  your  speech;  too 
much  polish  suggests  insincerity. 

The  great  orator  idealizes  the 
real,  transfigures  the  common, 
makes  even  the  inanimate  throb 
and  thrill,  fills  the  gallery  of  the 
imagination  with  statues  and  pic 
tures  perfect  in  form  and  color, 
brings  to  light  the  gold  hoarded 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

by  memory  the  miser,  shows  the 
glittering  coin  to  the  spendthrift 
hope,  enriches  the  brain,  ennobles 
the  heart,  and  quickens  the  con 
science.  Between  his  lips  words 
bud  and  blossom. 

If  you  wish  to  know  the  differ 
ence  between  an  orator  and  an 
elocutionist  —  between  what  is  felt 
and  what  is  said  —  between  what 
the  heart  and  brain  can  do  together 
and  what  the  brain  can  do  alone  — 
read  Lincoln's  wondrous  speech  at 
Gettysburg,  and  then  the  oration 
of  Edward  Everett. 

The  speech  of  Lincoln  will  never 
be  forgotten.  It  will  live  until 
languages  are  dead  and  lips  are 
dust.  The  oration  of  Everett  will 
never  be  read. 

[93] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

The  elocutionists  believe  in  the 
virtue  of  voice,  the  sublimity  of 
syntax,  the  majesty  of  long  sen 
tences,  and  the  genius  of  gesture. 

The  orator  loves  the  real,  the 
simple,  the  natural.  He  places 
the  thought  above  all.  He  knows 
that  the  greatest  ideas  should  be 
expressed  in  the  shortest  words  — 
that  the  greatest  statues  need  the 
least  drapery. 

Lincoln  was  an  immense  person 
ality —  firm  but  not  obstinate. 
Obstinacy  is  egotism  —  firmness, 
heroism.  He  influenced  others 
without  effort,  unconsciously  ;  and 
they  submitted  to  him  as  men 
submit  to  nature  —  unconsciously. 
He  was  severe  with  himself,  and 

for  that  reason  lenient  with  others. 
[94] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

He  appeared  to  apologize  for 
being  kinder  than  his  fellows. 

He  did  merciful  things  as  stealth 
ily  as  others  committed  crimes. 

Almost  ashamed  of  tender 
ness,  he  said  and  did  the  noblest 
words  and  deeds  with  that  charm 
ing  confusion,  that  awkward 
ness,  that  is  the  perfect  grace  of 
modesty. 

As  a  noble  man,  wishing  to  pay 
a  small  debt  to  a  poor  neighbor, 
reluctantly  offers  a  hundred-dollar 
bill  and  asks  for  change,  fearing 
that  he  may  be  suspected  either  of 
making  a  display  of  wealth  or  a 
pretence  of  payment,  so  Lincoln 
hesitated  to  show  his  wealth  of 
goodness  even  to  the  best  he  knew. 

A  great  man  stooping,  not  wish- 
[95] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

ing  to  make  his  fellows  feel  that 
they  were  small  or  mean. 

By  his  candor,  by  his  kindness, 
by  his  perfect  freedom  from  re 
straint,  by  saying  what  he  thought, 
and  saying  it  absolutely  in  his  own 
way,  he  made  it  not  only  possible, 
but  popular,  to  be  natural.  He 
was  the  enemy  of  mock  solemnity, 
of  the  stupidly  respectable,  of  the 
cold  and  formal. 

He  wore  no  official  robes  either 
on  his  body  or  his  soul.  He  never 
pretended  to  be  more  or  less,  or 
other,  or  different,  from  what  he 
really  was. 

He  had  the  unconscious  natural 
ness  of  Nature's  self. 

He  built  upon  the  rock.  The 
foundation  was  secure  and  broad. 
[96] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

The  structure  was  a  pyramid, 
narrowing  as  it  rose.  Through 
days  and  nights  of  sorrow,  through 
years  of  grief  and  pain,  with  un 
swerving  purpose,  "with  malice 
towards  none,  with  charity  for  all/' 
with  infinite  patience,  with  un 
clouded  vision,  he  hoped  and  toiled. 
Stone  after  stone  was  laid,  until 
at  last  the  Proclamation  found  its 
place.  On  that  the  Goddess  stands. 
He  knew  others,  because  per 
fectly  acquainted  with  himself.  He 
cared  nothing  for  place,  but  every 
thing  for  principle;  little  for 
money,  but  everything  for  inde 
pendence.  Where  no  principle 
was  involved,  easily  swayed  — 
willing  to  go  slowly,  if  in  the  right 
direction  —  sometimes  willing  to 
[97] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

stop ;  but  he  would  not  go  back, 
and  he  would  not  go  wrong. 

He  was  willing  to  wait.  He 
knew  that  the  event  was  not 
waiting,  and  that  fate  was  not  the 
fool  of  chance.  He  knew  that 
slavery  had  defenders,  but  no  de 
fence,  and  that  they  who  attack  the 
right  must  wound  themselves. 

He  was  neither  tyrant  nor  slave. 
He  neither  knelt  nor  scorned. 

With  him,  men  were  neither 
great  nor  small  —  they  were  right 
or  wrong. 

Through  manners,  clothes,  titles, 
rags,  and  race  he  saw  the  real  — 
that  which  is.  Beyond  accident, 
policy,  compromise,  and  war  he 
saw  the  end. 

He  was  patient  as  Destiny, 
[98] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

whose  undecipherable  hieroglyphs 
were  so  deeply  graven  on  his  sad 
and  tragic  face. 

Nothing  discloses  real  character 
like  the  use  of  power.  It  is  easy 
for  the  weak  to  be  gentle.  Most 
people  can  bear  adversity.  But  if 
you  wish  to  know  what  a  man 
really  is,  give  him  power.  This 
is  the  supreme  test.  It  is  the  glory 
of  Lincoln  that,  having  almost 
absolute  power,  he  never  abused  it, 
except  on  the  side  of  mercy. 

Wealth  could  not  purchase, 
power  could  not  awe,  this  divine, 
this  loving  man. 

He  knew  no  fear  except  the  fear 

of  doing  wrong.     Hating  slavery, 

pitying    the    master  —  seeking   to 

conquer,  not  persons,  but  prejudices 

[99] 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

—  he  was  the  embodiment  of  the 
self-denial,  the  courage,  the  hope, 
and  the  nobility  of  a  Nation. 

He  spoke  not  to  inflame,  not  to 
upbraid,  but  to  convince. 

He    raised    his    hands,   not    to 
strike,  but  in  benediction. 
He  longed  to  pardon. 
He  loved  to  see  the  pearls  of 
joy  on  the  cheeks  of  a  wife  whose 
husband  he  had  rescued  from  death. 
Lincoln  was  the  grandest  figure 
of  the  fiercest  civil  war.     He  is  the 
gentlest  memory  of  our  world. 


[100] 


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